Illuminating device fob house



Aug. 24, 1943. H. 1.. MILLSPAUGH 2,327,443

ILIJUMINATING DEVICE FOR HOUSE NUMBERS Filed Sept. 30, 1940 INVENTOR L. /5 au y'fi Y' MN ATTORNEY i atente'd Aug. 24, 1943 UNITED STATES th s? Herman Lou Millspaugh, Seattle, Wash.

Application September 3t, 1940, Serial No. 359,039

1 Claim.

This invention relates to a device for the illumination of house numbers and, more especia1- 1y, to a device for this purpose characterized in that the electrical current for illuminationis derived from the door-bell circuit of the house. Objectively, the invention aims to provide a device of the character described which may be easily installed and which, over extended periods parts illustrated in the accompanying drawing and hereinafter described and claimed.

In said drawing:

Figure l is an underside plan View of an illuminating device constructed in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the View representing the device as attached to a wall shown in section.

Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section on line 2-2 of Fig. l; and

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

According to the present invention I provide a plate represented b the numeral 5 desirably produced to a semi-circular plan configuration and having on the inner face a web 6 spaced from but concentric with the arcuate perimeter and arranged to act as a bearing foot with respect to the outer wall of a house on which the device is to be mounted. This plate is or may be of an insulating material such as hard rubber, Bakelite, or the like, and on the front face is fitted With a lamp socket l, and at each side of the latter is pierced by holes accommodating nails 8 or other securing medium for fixin the plate in a suitable position above the house numbers of the wall. The said socket is designed to receive a 6-8 volt electric lamp IE and embodies wire leads iii-i2 which are arranged to be conventionally attached to opposite terminals of a door-bell circuit (not shown). As a salient feature of my electric circuit, it should be here stated that one of my two leads is nichrome to function as a resistance in maintaining an electric load on the lamp somewhat below the listed capacity thereof I find that 35-gauge wire supplied in a 24" length enables the user to accommodate the lamp to the electric output of any of the door-bell transformers now in use, the full length of the nichrome wire producing a resistance sufficient to compensate for eighteen volt door-bell circuit as conventionally employed with chime bells while a measured shortening of the wire correspondingly reduces the resistance in accordance with the requirements of six and twelve volt circuits.

As a direct-rix for the light rays I employ a hood it, For ready detachability with respect to the plate 5, said hood is open at its inner end and about such opening is formed with an inturned flange which b a marginal correspondence with the perimeter of the web 6 permits the flange to be hooked over the rim of the plate. The hood is painted or otherwise suitably treated on the underside for reflection of light.

It is believed to be apparent that I have devised a structure applicable either to six, twelve, or eighteen volt transformer output by the instrum ntality simply of governing the length of one of the two wire leads, developing thereby a resistance operative to reduce the load on the electric lamp below peak capacity and consequently prolonging lamp life. The ease with which the mounting plate 5 is fixed to the wall, and the ready detachability of the hood, are features which augment the operating utility. it is to be expected that minordepartures from the disclosed embodiment will readily occur to those versed in the art, and visualizing these changes it is my intention that the hereto annexed claim be given a scope in its interpretation commensurate with the state or" the art.

What I claim, is:

In a device for the illumination of house numbers: the combination of a mounting plate formed on its back face with anintegral web projecting rearwardly in spaced paralleling relation to the perimeter of the plate; means for attaching the plate against the wall of the house to have the same lie above the number which is to be illuminated and with the web bearing directly against thewall to describe a peripheral channel about the plate defined at the outside by the back face of the late and at the inside by said wall of the house; a lamp socket supported on said plate;

a member arranged to fit over the plate to provide a hood for a lamp received in said socket, said hood-forming member being provided about its seating edge with an inturned flange formed to a thickness permitting the same to be freely lodged in and removed from said peripheral channel, th inner perimeter of said web describing a chamber to the of the plate which is ope-net the bottom to accommodate wires carried from the socket through the back wall of the plate to the lamp-energizing source of current.

H. LOU MILLSPAUGH. 

